30 Rock
30 Rock is half-hour comedy program about the backstage workings of the fictional sketch comedy show, The Girlie Show. Inspired by Saturday Night Live, the show premiered on NBC in the fall of 2006 and stars Tina Fey as Liz Lemon. Other regular cast members include Jane Krakowski and Alec Baldwin. In addition to several references to Muppet productions and characters in various episodes, a trio of Anything Muppets from Sesame Street appeared in an episode in the third season. Appearances *"Apollo, Apollo": Sesame Street-style Anything Muppet caricatures of cast members appear, as it's revealed that Kenneth the page perceives his coworkers as puppets. Performers credited for this episode include Joey Mazzarino, Carmen Osbahr, and Matt Vogel. Muppet Mentions *'Black Tie:' Pete, the producer, tries to comfort his young son over the phone by talking in his Elmo voice. *'Cleveland:' The Girlie Show star Tracy Jordan (played by SNL alum Tracy Morgan) fears that he is being targeted for elimination by "The Black Crusaders" because he is an embarrassment to African-Americans. Jordan lists Oprah Winfrey, Bill Cosby, and Gordon from Sesame Street as members of the elite, albeit fictional, organization. *In a promo spot for the second season premiere, Tina has Alec guess who she's imitating. His first guess is the Muppets. *'Sandwich Day:' Liz Lemon gets mad that her special Sandwich Day sandwich is missing. Upon noticing this, she throws something out of her office and into the writers' room. The object (on pause, it can be seen as a lamp) smashes into a dry erase board that has ideas for characters and/or sketches written on it. A close-up of the board is shown very briefly, and one of the ideas is for "pervert Elmo." *"The One with the Cast from Night Court": When Liz learns that Jack has been once again seduced by her "friend" Claire Harper (Jennifer Aniston), Claire says to her, "Oh, please stop. Don't make that angry Muppet face at him." *"Generalissimo": While going through some mail that was accidentally delivered to Liz, Jenna discovers some Netflix rental DVDs, including The Muppets Take Manhattan. *"The Bubble": A "Who Wore it Better?" magazine spread is shown, featuring Jenna and Miss Piggy in the same outfit. According to 84% of respondents, Miss Piggy wore it better. References * Sesame Street Episode 4168 features a parody called "30 Rocks" in which Liz Lemon convinces Jack the Boss that she has ordered the correct amount of rocks for a sketch. Connections *Will Arnett played Devon Banks in four episodes *Alec Baldwin plays Jack Donaghy *Michael Bloomberg played himself in "Subway Hero" *Wayne Brady played Steven Black in "The Source Awards" *Matthew Broderick played Cooter Burger in "Cooter" *Edie Falco played Celeste Cunningham in four episodes *Tina Fey plays Liz Lemon *Whoopi Goldberg played herself in "The Rural Juror" *Al Gore played himself in "Greenzo" *Sean Hayes played Jesse Parcell in "Hiatus" *Toby Huss played a German voice ("Deutsche Stimmer") in "Episode 210" *Gladys Knight played herself in "Episode 210" *Jane Krakowski plays Jenna Maroney *Nathan Lane played Eddie Donaghy in "The Fighting Irish" *Matt Lauer played himself in "Generalissimo" *John Lithgow has a brief cameo as himself in "Goodbye, My Friend" *Megan Mullally played Bev in "Do-Over" *Conan O'Brien played himself in "Tracy Does Conan" *Markie Post played herself in "The One with the Cast of 'Night Court'" *Paul Reubens played Gerhardt in "Black Tie" *Andy Richter played Mitch Lemon in "Ludachristmas" *Al Roker played himself in "Fireworks" *Isabella Rossellini played Bianca Donnelly in "Black Tie" and "Up All Night" *Molly Shannon played Katherine Catherine in the episode "The Fighting Irish" *Gary Tacon played a crazy homeless guy in "Cleveland" *Meredith Vieira played herself in "Greenzo" and "Larry King" *Oprah Winfrey played herself in "Believe in the Stars" Category:TV Mentions Category:TV References Category:TV Appearances